And the last shilling disappears in stamps.

Nor weightier cares you lack, it is decreed;

The clock won’t go, the chickens will not feed,

The pump, always a huffy ancient, swears,

“Water? if you wants water, try elsewheres”:

The infant wonder, she who must inquire,

Investigates herself into the fire,

The playful snowball whizzes through the pane,

In brief, you try to kick the cat: in vain.

Here no such troubles blot the almanac